V. Thangadurai
Biographical Abstract
Dr. Thangadurai is a solid state materials chemist who received his Ph.D. degree in the area of solid
state chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in early 1999. After his Ph.D., he was
a PDF at the University of Kiel, Germany and worked with Professor Werner Weppner, who is a
recognized world leader in solid-state gas sensors. He received a prestigious PDF research fellowship
from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany for two years.
Dr. Thangadurai worked as Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst “Guest Professor” at the
University of Kiel from 2002-2005. He received the Habilitation degree from the University of Kiel in
2004 based on his independent research work [Dissertation: “Development of Materials for All-SolidState Ionic Devices”]. Since July 2005, he has been located at the University of Calgary as an Assistant
Professor in the Chemistry Department.
Dr. Thangadurai’s expertise covers a broad area of solid-state ionic technologies, and he has published
over 55 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. He is co-author of a patent on chemically stable
lithium ion conductors and also has recently filed a patent on the use of perovskites as ceramic proton
conductors. He leads a group of six students, and is building a solid oxide fuel cells team as part of the
new Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) and the Western Canada
Fuel Cell Initiative (WCFCI) network.
Research Abstract
Dr. Thangadurai’s group’s long-term research interests are in the area of solid-state ionic conductor
technologies. In particular, the emphasis is on solid electrolytes and electrodes for alternative energy
conversion, storage and environmental applications; including solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), proton
exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), lithium ion batteries, and sensors for gases (e.g. oxygen,
hydrogen, ammonia, hydrocarbon). Under extremes of temperature and gas environments, the
fundamental scientific and practical understandings of the structure-composition-transport property
relationship is critical to all these applications, where the materials being developed are ultimately being
used to improve the long-term stability and performance of these ionic devices.
Current research involves the design, preparation and characterization of new solid electrolytes, based
on inorganic crystal structures such as perovskite, fluorite, pyrochlore, and garnet, which exhibit oxide
ion, proton, lithium ion, and mixed ionic-electronic conduction. These materials are prepared using lowtemperature chemical (e.g. precipitation and precursor), soft-chemical (e.g. ion-exchange) and high
temperature ceramic methods (e.g. high energy ball milling, sintering furnaces up to 1700˚ C, solidstate reactive synthesis strategies) and characterized by a variety of immediately available techniques.
These techniques include variable temperature and atmosphere powder X-ray diffraction, elemental
analysis, thermal analysis (TGA, DTA/DSC), and physical spectroscopy. Electrical and ionic transport
properties are then investigated employing AC impedance and DC polarization technique as a function
of temperature, oxygen partial pressures, and other reactive gases.
The group’s most recent breakthroughs include synthesis of new fast oxide ion conducting nano-sized
solid electrolytes based on the CeO2 structural component employing a novel CO2 mediated reaction
method. Another recent breakthrough is the development of a fast proton conduction in a new family of
double perovskite-like Ta-doped Ba2(CaNb)2O6 compositions. These materials exhibit excellent
chemical stability in CO2 (800˚ C) and boiling water for 7 days, which is critical in fuel cell and gas
sensor applications. Also, the group has developed new inorganic, lithium ion conducting electrolytes
for high energy density lithium ion batteries, which are chemically stable towards the high voltages
employed.